Students plan to grow lettuce… on Mars

Students from Southampton University’s spaceflight society have been shortlisted in a competition run by MarsOne, who aim to have a permanent human settlement on Mars by 2026.

The students want to set up a mini green house on Mars and grow lettuce to see if plants can grow in space, and also to support the future settlement. Science is awesome!

Our take: A human settlement on Mars would be great, but that’s in the future – if the students’ project wins and plants can grow in space, then it would definitely help scientists decide if a settlement would be possible if a food source is there. Still, it’s lettuce – maybe we should send up some rabbits until real food can be grown…

Supermarkets cut petrol prices

The big supermarkets – Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons and Asda – have cut the price of their petrol and diesel thanks to a fall in oil prices.

This means that petrol prices have dropped by 2p a litre and diesel to 1p a litre. At Asda, motorists will pay no more than 110.7p a litre for unleaded and 117.7p a litre for diesel. Tesco Clubcard users can use the Petrol Promise scheme to save even more on their fuel.

Our take: Does anyone else remember the days when petrol was 90p a litre? Those were the days… back in the day when Freddos were 15p each. If petrol prices are being cut, why can’t something be done about the price of Freddos?!

Man takes stranger on around the world trip

Jordan Axani booked an around the world trip for himself and his girlfriend – but when their relationship ended, he still wanted to go on the holiday with a replacement companion.

Jordan didn’t want to waste the other ticket and wanted to find someone with the same name and nationality as his ex-girlfriend. He finally found someone – Canadian Elizabeth Gallagher, whose boyfriend isn’t happy about the situation.

The pair will be seeing the sights of London, Dubai and Prague – and, thanks to the publicity of the situation, they have been offered free separate rooms in some of the cities.

Our take: It’s great that this story has a happy ending – we hope they have a great holiday! Free hotel rooms certainly means less money to pay out too, this holiday must be pretty expensive…

Student raises money for homeless man who offered her his last £3

Dominique Harrison-Bentzen, a student at the University of Central Lancashire, lost her bank card after a night out in Preston and couldn’t afford a taxi home. She was approached by a homeless man who offered her his last £3 to get home.

Dominique didn’t take the money, but is now raising money by spending 24 hours on the streets so the man can get off the streets in time for Christmas. So far, she has raised over £30,000.

Our take:It’s sometimes those who have little that are the most generous – it’s awesome that Dominque is returning the favour and raising money to improve his life for good. Students can certainly surprise you!

Student lies about making millions stock trading

Earlier this week, Mohammed Islam hit headlines after he claimed that he made $72 million on the stock market. Well, you can stop dreaming about becoming the next Wolf of Wall Street – because he made it all up.

Mohammed actually made the money virtually, which isn’t even half as fun as the real money (it’s almost like an at-home version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? - no one wins). His parents are very, very angry with him.

Our take: Sigh. Looked like a great way to make money quickly… you could always look at our guides instead.

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